SENATE BILL 72

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Stuart Ingle

AN ACT

RELATING TO PROPERTY; AMENDING THE RIGHT TO FARM ACT TO PROTECT AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS OR FACILITIES FROM NUISANCE CLAIMS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 47-9-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 287, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

     "47-9-3. AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS DEEMED NOT A NUISANCE.--

          A. Any agricultural operation or agricultural facility is not, nor shall it become, a private or public nuisance by any changed condition in or about the locality of the agricultural operation or agricultural facility if the operation was not a nuisance at the time the operation began and has been in existence for more than one year; except that the provisions of this section shall not apply whenever an agricultural operation or agricultural facility is operated negligently or illegally such that the operation or facility is a nuisance.

          B. Any ordinance or resolution of any unit of local government that makes the operation of any agricultural operation or agricultural facility a nuisance or provides for abatement of it as a nuisance under the circumstances set forth in this section shall not apply when an agricultural operation is located within the corporate limits of any municipality as of April 8, 1981.

          C. The established date of operation is the date on which an agricultural operation commenced or an agricultural facility was originally constructed. If an agricultural operation or agricultural facility is subsequently expanded or a new technology is adopted, the established date of operation does not change.

          D. No cause of action based upon nuisance may be brought by a person whose claim arose following the purchase, lease or rental of property proximate to a previously established agricultural operation or agricultural facility, except when such previously established agricultural operation or agricultural facility has substantially changed in the nature and scope of its operations."

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